AWC Best Parenting/Personal Blog 2013

I’ve been suffering a raging fever for the past few days, shivering like one of those half-dogs that sit in the crook of a celebrity’s arm snapping at anything that gets in front of its ugly bulging eyeballs, and having strange visual hallucinations of bright flashing lights and distorted faces and a nude Marg Simpson rearranging my kitchen cupboards while growling ‘Oh, RD!’

Australian Writers’ Centre Award!

This morning, in the shower, I had a dance-off with the midget Tattoo from Fantasy Island but thanks to the 24 Panadol tablets I swallowed three hours ago – which have helped to take the edge of my fever (and possibly my liver) – I’m not really sure if Tattoo was there at all. I guess I’ve been pretty sick.

So with the illness and the visions and the general uncertainty that comes with just being me you can understand why I’m not sure about this thing I heard today…

Because I can’t really trust my mind right now I’ve decided I’m just going to have to play along, as if it’s happening in the real world, (whatever that means) and thank everyone who’s come to my blog over the past five years.

The people who have followed me along and offered friendship and support in the early years when I was a newbie stay at home Dad and long-time wannabe writer. All the contestants and their partners in the Most Mentally Sexy Competition – which brought the blog a lot of attention and promoted a gender-role-stereotype-smashing good cause. And to all the bloggers and writers who have offered advice and guidance and opened my eyes to the power and reach of this crazy medium.

The most thanks goes to my wonderful wife Tania (aka Reservoir Mum) who has been my main support for such a long time and has not only encouraged me to keep writing since we met back in 1991 but has approached everyone of my projects with joy, offered honest criticism when it was needed (always) and constantly validated my passion and effort.

And my boys? I’ve lost so much time just staring at them with parental love slash awe. They’re amazing. I love telling their stories, sharing mine with them, and I feel their presence in everything I do. This passion I’ve carried with me for as long as I can remember has only been enhanced by Archie, Lewis, Tyson and Maki. And there are so many years left together and so many stories left to tell!

It’s just been a great ride and most importantly good fun and I’m feeling all cold and shaky again, so I might go lie down and maybe even fall asleep and take the chance that this is all a fever-spawned hallucination.

I’m going to do my best to stay connected though!

So if we haven’t met before please like The Reservoir Dad Facebook Page or follow my Twitter Account and make a point of saying hello. I’ll be saying hello back – don’t worry about that – and I’ll be doing the follow back for every new real person who follows me on Twitter.

Oh shit, here’s Tattoo again. I absolutely humiliated him with my dance moves this morning and he’s wanting another shot and me and he’s already pumping his little arms and legs in an uncoordinated version of The Cabbage Patch and – oh man – he’s got one of those ugly half-dogs with him, the shivering little bastard.

Oh well, looks like I’m going to have to serve up the good grooves and crush his little spirit again. I’m listening to the hit song Flawless – just so you know – and I’m going to shred the dance floor inside my head to pieces.

About The Author

I fell into this blogging thing but now see it as that crucial cog in the machine. Blogging offers me a great creative outlet with an immediate audience. It freshens my perspective. Reliving my time with the boys, recording our last pregnancy and the birth of our fourth child and dancing around the intimate moments of my relationship with Reservoir Mum acts as a time capsule for my family, adds a little extra to my world, and reminds me of how good I’ve got it.

A hard day at the office becomes a learning experience in retrospect, a chance to colour the most difficult moments with a touch of the crazy, something to savour, something to reread later with the boys on my lap.